Introducing Azure Load Balancer insights using Azure Monitor for Networks

Introducing Azure Load Balancer insights using Azure Monitor for Networks

We are excited to announce that Azure Load Balancer customers now have instant access to a packaged solution for health monitoring and configuration analysis. Built as part of Azure Monitor for Networks, customers now have topological maps for all their Load Balancer configurations and health dashboards for their Standard Load Balancers preconfigured with relevant metrics.

Through this, you have a window into the health and configuration of your networks, enabling rapid fault localization and informed design decisions. You can access this through the Insights blade of each Load Balancer resource and Azure Monitor for Networks, a central hub that provides access to health and connectivity monitoring for all your network resources.

Visualize functional dependencies

The functional dependency view will enable you to picture even the most complex load balancer setups. With visual feedback on Load Balancing rules, Inbound NAT rules, and backend pool resources, you can make updates while keeping a complete picture of your configuration in mind.

An example topology depicting the functional dependencies of a Load Balancer and its dependent resources. The dependent resources depicted are two Frontend IPs each of which have Load Balancer rules mapping to a Backend Pool. The Backend Pool is shown mapped to Virtual Machines Scale Sets and VMs with red, yellow, and green colors used to indicate health status.

For Standard Load Balancers, your backend pool resources are color-coded with Health Probe status empowering you to visualize the current availability of your network to serve traffic. Alongside the above topology you are presented with a time-wise graph of health status, giving a snapshot view of the health of your application.

Monitor a rich metric dashboard with no setup needed

After reviewing your topology, you may want to dig even further into the data to understand how your Load Balancer is performing through the detailed metrics page. The detailed metrics page is a dashboard preconfigured with separate tabs providing useful insights into Availability, Data Throughput, Flow Distribution, and Connection Latency.

The Overview tab provides a high-level view and from here you can visit the Frontend & Backend Availability or Data Throughput tabs for more in-depth information.

An example of the Overview tab of the Load Balancer Detailed Metrics page is shown. This image shows the searchable grid that lists Data Path Availability and Health Probe Status by Frontend IP address

Through the Frontend and Backend availability tabs, you are provided with a breakdown of your Load Balancer and backend pool health status over time. You can consult the Data Throughput tab to learn how much data is parsed through your services by frontend IP, frontend port, and direction.

The Flow Distribution tab provides visualization of load distribution amongst backend resources. This enables you to see the number of flows being created by each backend instance and to keep track of whether you are approaching the limit.

An example of the Flow Distribution tab of the Load Balancer Detailed Metrics page is shown. This image shows charts of the inbound and outbound flows being created for each member of the Backend Pool of the Load Balancer.

The Connection Monitors tab plots round-trip latencies from Connection Monitors across the globe on a map. With this, you can evaluate the performance impact distances from regions around the world have on your service.

An example of the Connection Monitor tab of the Load Balancer Detailed Metrics page is shown. This image shows a map of the globe with points for each region with a connectivity monitor configured and the round-trip latencies from that region to the Load Balancer.

The new monitoring experience is seamless and straightforward to use, with integrated guides and instructions provided as part of each tab.

One place for all your network monitoring needs

Azure Monitor for Networks fully supports the new monitoring and insights experience for Azure Load Balancer. With all your network resource metrics in a single place, you can quickly filter by type, subscription, and keyword to view the health, connectivity, and alert status of all your Azure network resources such as Azure Firewalls, ExpressRoute, and Application Gateways.

An example of Azure Monitor for Networks is shown. This image depicts the network resources for the selected subscription and shows the health monitoring dashboards for all network resources are available from a centralized endpoint.

As we rapidly transition to the cloud and applications become more complex, customers need tools to easily maintain, monitor, and update their network configurations. With the integration of the Azure Load Balancer with Azure Monitor for Networks, we deliver a piece of this and look forward to continuing to provide our valued customers with the best in class experience they deserve.

Next steps

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